Alec Peche's Blog - Posts Tagged "chocolate-diamonds"
My Bouchercon Schedule
I’m attending my first Bouchercon this year. I have put a lot of preparation into the conference to ensure that I am getting the maximum return on my registration fee and time away from writing. I live in Northern California and thus will have a five to six hour drive to the conference. I’ve found a cheaper, high quality hotel in the city of Long Beach, but it’s a good three miles from the convention center.
I have three goals. I want to enjoy myself and meet authors, bloggers, and readers. As a writer, there is very little face to face contact with anyone. As many people have said before me, writing is a solitary occupation. Most book marketing is solitary as well: writing FB, Twitter, and blog posts; looking at sales charts; reviewing ads; and keeping all social media about oneself up to date. At Bouchercon, from all the other blog posts, I understand that I need to spend time at the bar in casual conversation. I don’t know another soul attending and starting new conversations with strangers will never be on my bucket list. I think the other blogs I have read from people attending and making friends are from self-deprecating extroverts. I’ll be that short, quiet person looking uncomfortable, holding a glass of wine, examining my green iPhone for anything to distract me from the discomfort of making new friends! One other piece of fun is Long Beach itself. It is a beautiful beach to walk on. You can choose to walk close to the waves or on the concrete sidewalk where you’ll find walkers, runners, bicyclists, and roller bladders. I try to make 12,000 steps a day, so a daily beach walk will be included in that.
My second goal is to learn about being a better writer. I have l studied the program and planned all of my sessions. In some cases there were two choices that appealed to me and so I may cut out of one to join the other. I’m attending Murder in a Locked Room. In my WIP, I wrote myself into a corner with a lack of clues to follow. I am a pantser writer and I think that if you’re not careful you can get stuck with your story. I like solving the perfect crime as a reader and as a writer. So I am hoping for “clues” on writing the perfect murder.
I’m also attending Cops around the World. My second book Chocolate Diamonds, is set in Belgium and the Netherlands. I did a lot of research to understand cops, Interpol, and gun laws in those two countries. Despite my research I know there is much I don’t know about international law enforcement. If you watch enough American-made spy movies, you have this impression that Interpol is this large overarching crime detecting group. Then I studied their areas of focus and their total staff worldwide (650 people) and I knew they couldn’t be this omnipresent force globally. I had to change the interactions between the Belgian and Dutch Police forces as being the lead investigators rather than Interpol.
One other among the fourteen or so sessions that I think I want to attend is Kick Ass Woman. My books feature a female protagonist with three female friends solving crimes (yes, they do get a little help from men along the way). Unfortunately I am also doing an Author Focus Session from 11:30 to 11:50, so I may miss the first thirty minutes of the session.
Being a type A personality, more comfortable learning than conversing, I’ll see how much I can pack into four days of wonderful writer opportunity.
My third goal is to find new readers and fans. Toward this goal, I have boxes in my car filled with paperback copies of my books which you will find at Scene of the Crime book store in the Book Room at the convention. I also have business cards, a few bookmarks, and stands to hold either books or book covers depending on where I am.
I am scheduled to do Author Speed Dating with a chance to reach up to 500 attendees with a 2.5 minute speech about my books. I have my speech written and practiced to make sure I stay within the time limit. This should be fun but exhausting to tell your book’s story to so many people in so little time while trying to stay fresh and friendly. Fortunately, I’m a morning person, so I am already halfway there.
I am volunteering at the registration table on Friday. I did attend West Coast Crime this past March and noted that this was a great way to meet people and again I’m a morning person and inclined to be friendly and energetic at 7am.
Finally, I am doing an Author Focus Session on Saturday. I have an outline of my talk prepared, but I am also planning to secret shop other Author Focus sessions on Thursday and Friday to see what last minute adjustments I need to make for my Author Focus Session.
Hopefully, by the end of Bouchercon, I’ll have a little more visibility in the world of murder mysteries!
It is strange that through my first four books, I have been unable to tame my pantser ways, but when it comes to making the most of Bouchercon, I am as organized as a person can be.
Alec Peche
I have three goals. I want to enjoy myself and meet authors, bloggers, and readers. As a writer, there is very little face to face contact with anyone. As many people have said before me, writing is a solitary occupation. Most book marketing is solitary as well: writing FB, Twitter, and blog posts; looking at sales charts; reviewing ads; and keeping all social media about oneself up to date. At Bouchercon, from all the other blog posts, I understand that I need to spend time at the bar in casual conversation. I don’t know another soul attending and starting new conversations with strangers will never be on my bucket list. I think the other blogs I have read from people attending and making friends are from self-deprecating extroverts. I’ll be that short, quiet person looking uncomfortable, holding a glass of wine, examining my green iPhone for anything to distract me from the discomfort of making new friends! One other piece of fun is Long Beach itself. It is a beautiful beach to walk on. You can choose to walk close to the waves or on the concrete sidewalk where you’ll find walkers, runners, bicyclists, and roller bladders. I try to make 12,000 steps a day, so a daily beach walk will be included in that.
My second goal is to learn about being a better writer. I have l studied the program and planned all of my sessions. In some cases there were two choices that appealed to me and so I may cut out of one to join the other. I’m attending Murder in a Locked Room. In my WIP, I wrote myself into a corner with a lack of clues to follow. I am a pantser writer and I think that if you’re not careful you can get stuck with your story. I like solving the perfect crime as a reader and as a writer. So I am hoping for “clues” on writing the perfect murder.
I’m also attending Cops around the World. My second book Chocolate Diamonds, is set in Belgium and the Netherlands. I did a lot of research to understand cops, Interpol, and gun laws in those two countries. Despite my research I know there is much I don’t know about international law enforcement. If you watch enough American-made spy movies, you have this impression that Interpol is this large overarching crime detecting group. Then I studied their areas of focus and their total staff worldwide (650 people) and I knew they couldn’t be this omnipresent force globally. I had to change the interactions between the Belgian and Dutch Police forces as being the lead investigators rather than Interpol.
One other among the fourteen or so sessions that I think I want to attend is Kick Ass Woman. My books feature a female protagonist with three female friends solving crimes (yes, they do get a little help from men along the way). Unfortunately I am also doing an Author Focus Session from 11:30 to 11:50, so I may miss the first thirty minutes of the session.
Being a type A personality, more comfortable learning than conversing, I’ll see how much I can pack into four days of wonderful writer opportunity.
My third goal is to find new readers and fans. Toward this goal, I have boxes in my car filled with paperback copies of my books which you will find at Scene of the Crime book store in the Book Room at the convention. I also have business cards, a few bookmarks, and stands to hold either books or book covers depending on where I am.
I am scheduled to do Author Speed Dating with a chance to reach up to 500 attendees with a 2.5 minute speech about my books. I have my speech written and practiced to make sure I stay within the time limit. This should be fun but exhausting to tell your book’s story to so many people in so little time while trying to stay fresh and friendly. Fortunately, I’m a morning person, so I am already halfway there.
I am volunteering at the registration table on Friday. I did attend West Coast Crime this past March and noted that this was a great way to meet people and again I’m a morning person and inclined to be friendly and energetic at 7am.
Finally, I am doing an Author Focus Session on Saturday. I have an outline of my talk prepared, but I am also planning to secret shop other Author Focus sessions on Thursday and Friday to see what last minute adjustments I need to make for my Author Focus Session.
Hopefully, by the end of Bouchercon, I’ll have a little more visibility in the world of murder mysteries!
It is strange that through my first four books, I have been unable to tame my pantser ways, but when it comes to making the most of Bouchercon, I am as organized as a person can be.
Alec Peche
